


John's Towel

by Yuki_F_Karasu



Series: The Guide's Entries On One John Watson [1]
Category: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Crack, Crossover, Gen, Humor, John Watson may or may not be Arthur Dent, My First AO3 Post, No knowledge of Hitchhiker's Guide required, One Shot, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 16:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9245273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuki_F_Karasu/pseuds/Yuki_F_Karasu
Summary: John Watson has an odd habit; namely carrying around a towel.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone, I'm Yuki! I am new to being a part of AO3, so forgive my awkward introduction! Anyway this fic was made partly after having watched Sherlock for the first time and realising "oh my goodness, is the Arthur Dent?!" and partly after I realised that Hitchhiker's/Sherlock crossovers hadn't been explored much.  
> Hope you enjoy!

_John Watson was a man with odd quirks no one could explain; not his family, not even the great Sherlock Holmes._

_For starters, the doctor always had a towel with him, always._

_When asked about this strange habit he looked at the asker as if they had gone insane and told them the towel was an absolutely essential part of life and had many different uses._

_One encounter happened as_ _such:_

* * *

 

It was a fine summer day in London, and it was the first day without rain since the Sunday past.

  Sherlock had been called for a double homicide, dragging John with him, of course.

Though Sherlock had mostly deduced the murder before lunch, he was missing one crucial piece to the puzzle; the suspected killer's phone.

  While everyone was thinking of ways to obtain the phone, no one noticed that the blonde doctor had disappeared.

Once they did he was already back, in his gloved hand the phone they were all looking for.

 Even Sherlock looked impressed.

"How did you do it?" was the common question asked.

  He smiled mischievously and said, "With the help of my towel!"

Detective Inspector Lestrade looked at the doctor like the man was actually insane (a possibility that was looking more and more likely the longer the DI spent with the man.)

  Finally, it was Sally Donovan who asked the disbelieving question. "How could a towel possibly help you get that phone?" she asked.

John stared at her, though, in all honesty, everyone at the scene was wondering just that.

  Slowly and carefully he spoke his answer. "I convinced him I was a trustworthy traveler who needed to borrow his phone to ring my own. After all, if a traveler still has his towel he must be responsible for his things and must not be asking lightly."

  With that he turned and walked off the crime scene, handing Sherlock the phone as he passed by.

That wasn't the last time either; John Watson had multiple times obtained items with his traveler disguise and his towel.

Sometimes they were absurd things for the ploy too, such as a man's watch (which held a fingerprint that proved something or other);

a very old pipe (used for neither tobacco or drugs, instead to hide a priceless jewel in plain sight for the past ten years);

a woman's passport (that not only confirmed she had been in London a week earlier than she claimed but revealed she had several aliases);

and an old picture of the friends and family of a victim obtained from the killer, who was at the time secretly running from the police. (At first everyone, including Sherlock, thought the picture made no real difference to the case, as all evidence pointed to the victim's maid. But after it was revealed the maid was involved with a drug dealer at the time and unable to be the killer, the picture revealed the killer had taken it from the victim and the crime scene.)

* * *

 

  In the end, even Sherlock was resigned to saying that the towel did seem to help convince others to help John. (Though he had no idea how, and reluctantly left it at some odd thing in the human psychology as the culprit*.)

  When DI Lestrade met Harry Watson (who had witnessed a robbery and was, fortunately, sober) after they solved the crime (a desperate man needed some quick cash, was told by some shady acquaintances about a vulnerable house), asked the older sibling why her brother always carried a towel.

 She shrugged, she had no idea why. Though she did give this tidbit of information;

"I honestly don't know why, but I remember that it started when he was five and he said that his imaginary friend told him to."

  She also revealed that the imaginary friend's name was Ford Prefect, who John fully, 100% believed was very, quite, real (and quite, maybe, possibly he still did today.**)

Not that anyone would confront him about being just a tad mad, not when it was entirely obvious that he most likely, definitely was. You had to be if you had been living under the same roof as Sherlock for little under a year.

* * *

 

_*Though as we all know this is in no way just a product of Homo Sapiens nature. We here writing Hitchhiker’s Guide companion book, “Information on Some Less Important Things, But You Still Find Interesting”, had our workers test the towel truth (would it really get a Strag [non hitchhiker] to loan you stuff) and found that 97.98979738% of the time that yes, it would. (The exceptions being a few species and a few individuals who were particularly stubborn.)_

* * *

_**And in fact he did, though one Ford Prefect was very much not a fictional character in most lives of John Watson. In fact, other than a few very odd universes that may not (or ever) exist, John Watson has always known someone named Ford Prefect. Though the role and importance of the man, alien, or another entity varies._

* * *

 

_Notes for those concerned with the mental state of our dear Doctor._

_Doctor John Watson is of average mental stability for a man who has spent most of his life hitchhiking, an impressive feat for spending so much time in company of those such as Trillian Astra (_ formally Tricia Marie McMillan _), Zaphod Beeblebrox (t_ he best galactic president ever if you go by the secret duty of the president _)_ _, Marvin the Paranoid Android (a perpetually depressed robot), and one Ford Prefect (_ whose actual name no one other than his father could pronounce, not even himself, after the Great Collapsing Hrung Disaster of Gal./Sid./Year 03758. _)_

_According to our consultant psychologists the average mental state of a Hitchhiker is nowhere near the galactic standards for mental health, fortunately, an exception has been made for Hitchhikers as they are generally considered enjoyable people who tend to know excellent stories and how to make a fantastic Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster._

* * *

 

_End of entry._

_Copyright “The Official Unofficial Companion Book to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy;_ "Information on Some Less Important Things, But You Still May Find Interesting"

_Published Earth Year 2016, by the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor._

_If you find this book for free anywhere but from a fellow Hitchhiker please assume it has been stolen or hacked from our database and return to the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor next time you Hitchhike there; you will be given a free copy from one of our resident Hitchhikers._

_This entry was written by the current head writer for everything involving, related to, or incorporating_ Earth _(see entry);_ Yuki Iffroo _(see entry) originally from_ Traffii Vleb( _see entry), who previously wrote for_ the Guide _(see entry.)_

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate feedback even if it's just “This is really good!” They make me remember to write for this instead of bouncing around fandoms!


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